I definitely agree with the general assessment that this movie was ahead of its time. It's interesting that both this and Psycho came out in the same year, pushing the boundaries of horror and exploring the darker side of the human psyche. I've always found the more fragile, human villains, like Norman Bates, etc. to be scarier than monsters. I think part of what made the Joker such a scary, compelling character in The Dark Knight was that he was not physically imposing, but was still able to create fear and destruction on a large scale. I also thought the music in the movie was pretty awesome. I had initially started the movie late at night, expecting to fall asleep and finish it later, but I found that I couldn't stop watching. On a more disturbing note, when watching the main character, I couldn't help thinking "Oh, God...It's me!" (aside, of course, from the killing part) For whatever reason, I've had a number of living arrangements where I'm living upstairs from some other family or group of people that all know each other, and I'm always coming and going with my camera equipment. Also, friends and strangers have sometimes suspected me of being a serial killer.
Having said that, here are two little movies I made. I put the first one on the blog for the American Cinema class last year, but they seem more fitting for a Horror film class. I made them for the student surreal competition, and I didn't really intend for them to be scary, but I've been told that they are.
I can see why the knives were out for director Micheal Powell when he releases Peeping Tom. This movie is a shocking essay on childhood trauma, voyuerism and murder. Powell seems to be able to offend the guardians of all that is decent with scenes of killings, semi-nudity and an easy chat among prostitutes. What many be its signature offense, Peeping Tom, recruits the audience to become complict in the film’s seedy invasions of privacy purely for entertainment. The film paints a broad stroke that all fimakers as predatory creatures.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Peeping Tom was a film before its time. Could this be the precurser to our ever-present “reality” television? Watching the film, I found myself thinking of other voyuerism films, such as Body Double, Rear Window, Blue Velvet, and even The Truman Show. A glimpse into another world which we cannot turn away. These are not all horror films, but truly terrifying to consider when you think of the psychological underpinnings of Peeping Tom as these other film’s patriarch.
Your movies are scary, Jay. The second one disturbed me the most. The dark color floating through the liquid, the vulnerability of the fawn and the way the face without the eyes was always out of focus, those images made the dark spaces in my mind become active. That, in and of itself, was disturbing. I like my dark spaces to be quiet and calm.
ReplyDeleteJay, kudos for a job well done. Hmmm......me thinks you have talent!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing Jay - these films evoked something inside I cannot describe ... surreality?
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